Volume 15 Issue 8 - May 2010

She was a composer, arrangerand master of blues, boogiewoogie, stride, swing and bebop.She also had to cope witha musical environment in whichwomen instrumentalists werehardly plentiful and womenarranger/composers were asscarce as hen’s teeth.Mary Lou Williams. posedthree complete Masses, one of which, Mary Lou’s Mass, wasperformed right here in Toronto. I was fortunate enough to knowher and privileged to assist in presenting that performance.If your travels should take you to Washington DC, the 15th AnnualWomen in Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Centre will celebratethe 100th anniversary of pianist Williams’ birth with three eveningsof concerts featuring top female jazz artists: vocalist Dee DeeBridgewater, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, pianist Geri Allen,bassist Esperanza Spalding and saxophonist Grace Kelly; vocalistCatherine Russell, drummer Sherrie Maricle and the Diva JazzOrchestra.There will also be a celebration in New York on Williams’ birthday,May 8, at the Church of St. Francis Xavier. A very special ladyindeed.Right here in Toronto here are a few things worth the mention.On May 2 there will be a fundraiser at Koerner Hall for the GenevaCentre for Autism featuring Chaka Khan and Matt Savage and hisband. For info call 416-408-0208.On the 8th, St. George’s Memorial Church in Oshawa willpresent Jazz at George’s with vocalist Lynn McDonald, Dave Restivo,piano; Pat Reid, bass and Ted Warren, drums. Call 905-263-2791. On the 25th and 26th of the month at the Enwave Theatre,Harbourfront Centre, the Art of Time Ensemble will present “TheSongbook 4,” featuring vocalist Mary Maragret O’Hara, saxophonistPhil Dwyer, guitarist Rob Piltch and cellist Rachel Mercer. Forreservations call 416-703-5479.The Annual Ken Page Memorial Trust Gala fundraiser will beheld at The Old Mill on May 20. Warren Vaché and brother AllanVache, trombonists George Masso and Laurie Bower, John Sherwood,Neil Swainson, Don Thompson, Reg Schwager, Terry Clarkebe joined by a saxophone player called Galloway. It promises to bea pretty special evening. For reservations please call Anne Page at416-515-0200 or e-mail anne@kenpagememorialtrust.comI hope your May days will be distress-free. Happy listening.Jim Galloway is a saxophonist, band leader and the former artisticdirector of Toronto Downtown Jazz. He can be contacted at:jazz@thewholenote.com.Beat by Beat / BandstandJACK MACQUARRIEThere were a few musical events in my life in recent weeks thatfurnished a couple of topics for my column this month. TheIn last December’s Bandstand column I talked about choirs performingwith concert bands and how that form of joint venture wasvery popular over the Christmas holiday season. At that time we la-ation.Subsequently, I received a few letters on the subject, but littleevidence to contradict what I had written. I still found little evidenceof any conscious effort on the part of bands, choirs, arrangersor composers to rectify that situation. What a pleasant surpriseit was then when, a few weeks ago, I was treated to no fewer thanthree such works on a single programme.The event was a joint concert in lateMarch by the Oriana Singers of Cobourgand the Concert Band of Cobourg.With the assistance of a grant from theTrillium Foundation of Ontario these organizationswere able commission twospecial very diverse arrangements. TheA Ruth LoweCelebration, was a medley of tunesby that Canadian composer, including“I’ll Never Smile Again” and “PutYour Dreams Away.” I’m accustomed tohearing choirs perform with bands, butthere’s always the sense that separategroups are sharing the platform. Rather,in this concert, there was the senseCanadian songwriterRuth Lowe.smooth blend of voice, woodwind and brass rarely heard.Their rendition of Freddy Mercury’s Bohemian Rhapsody wasvery different. It bore no resemblance to the arrangement often performedby concert bands, and certainly did not indicate that itsroots were in a rock band some years ago. The third joint venturewas an original work on a sacred theme. “Benedictus” by StevenM. Baric exploited the unique tonality of these combined forces in away rarely heard.In a future issue I hope to be able to get some insight into theprocess involved with the Trillium Foundation for such purposes. Ialso hope to get information on how other groups might obtain copiesand performance rights for these works, which deserve to beheard more widely.In our concert listings in last month’s issue there was an announcementof a joint venture on May 1 by the Orillia Wind En-May 1 - June 7, 2010 WWW.THEWHOLENOTE.COM 23